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A mistrial has been declared in the Etan Patz murder trial due to a hung jury. All but one of the jurors had voted to convict.
Adam Sirois, the lone holdout, said that there just was not enough evidence in his mind to convict Pedro Hernandez of the murder. After sending them back for further deliberations and a total of 18 days of deliberation, Justice Maxwell Wiley finally discharged the jury.
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While no final decision has been made as to whether or not there will be a retrial, prosecutors did ask the judge to set a new date for one.
After the judge made his decision, Etan’s father said, “The family of Etan Patz has waited 36 years for an explanation as to what happened to our sweet little boy. I’m convinced [Sirois killed Etan] It makes sense, from beginning to end.”
Etan Patz was born October 9, 1972, to Jewish parents. He disappeared in SoHo, lower Manhattan, on May 25, 1979. Etan was the first missing child to be pictured on the side of a milk carton.
The case of Etan Patz’s disappearance was reopened in 2010 by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. A self-confessed suspect, Pedro Hernandez, was charged and indicted in 2012 on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. In 2014, the case went through a series of hearings to determine if Hernandez’s statements before receiving the Miranda warning were legally admissible. His trial began in January 2015.
